Exploration of clinical high-risk dropouts

Research into those at clinical high-risk (CHR) of psychosis is steadily increasing. Since these young people are difficult to find, and at times difficult to retain in longitudinal studies that often require lengthy clinical and biomarker assessments, drop-outs are not uncommon. For example, in the EPOS study 25.6% of participants were lost to follow-up over an 18-month follow-up (Ruhrmann et al., 2010). Since a major aim of CHR research is to understand more about the development of psychosis, it is important to know whether those who dropout do so with increased symptoms and are potentially more likely to be later converters, or if they dropout because of a remission of their attenuated symptoms.

Source: Schizophrenia Research - September 27, 2017 Category: Psychiatry Authors: Jacqueline Stowkowy, Lu Liu, Kristin S. Cadenhead, Ming T. Tsuang, Tyrone D. Cannon, Barbara A. Cornblatt, Thomas H. McGlashan, Scott W. Woods, Diana O. Perkins, Larry J. Seidman, Elaine F. Walker, Carrie E. Bearden, Daniel H. Mathalon, Jean Addington Tags: Letter to the Editor Source Type: research